could really look down into the eagle's nest. The nearest point from
the nest that we could reach was perhaps fifty feet away. We did not,
however, at once go that near. We did, however, crawl near enough to
see the fierce, savage way in which the old bird tore that young
mountain lamb to pieces and fed the voracious young eaglets, that
struggled and fought with each other in their mad greed. While they
were thus being fed by the old male bird we saw the mother arrive with a
rabbit in her talons. When she saw the feast that had been provided for
the young brood she laid the rabbit on one side, and patiently waited
until her mate had satisfied the voracious appetites of the brood. Then
she and the other eagle tore to pieces the rabbit, and devoured it, with
what was left of the mountain lamb.

"`Big dinner all around, everybody full,' said my Assiniboines; `big
sleep next, then old ones go away for a big fly, and then we set our
traps for them; but while they sleep we eat and sleep too.'

"We drew back very cautiously into a ravine about a quarter of a mile
down the mountain side, to a place where we had noticed some dry wood,
for we were not quite above the timber limit. Here we made a fire and
had something to eat. It was difficult to make the tea, as the water,
although boiling, had so little heat in it at that height on the
mountain. We unstrapped our blankets and lay down near the fire and
went to sleep, for we were very weary, having been up some nights before
on the lookout for a mountain lion that had been lurking about. I woke
up after a couple of hours' sleep and found that both of the eagles had
been seen by the watchful Indians to fly away from the nest. As the
length of their absence was very uncertain, the Indians quickly set to
work to make the snares, in which they expected to entrap them. Steel
traps were unknown in those days, and so the Indians had to make theirs
out of their strong buffalo sinews and deerskin twine.

"When we went back to the place where we could overlook the nest it was
evident that there would be some difficulty in getting down onto the
ledge where the young eaglets lay quietly sleeping. After various
trials it was decided that the only way was for one of our party to be
lowered over and let down by the rest. As I was much the lightest one,
and as the supply of material that we had with us out of which to
improvise a rope was very limited, I was the one selected to g